#the brainworms man

[qqueenofhades]

Different anon, but I would actually love an honest answer about the strike and the sick days! I tried to follow things as they were happening but I definitely missed some things and would love to read your perspective!

In short: the union of American railway workers was planning a strike over the holidays, in response to inadequate pay and conditions. This would have basically shut down the country over the holidays and as such, Congress stepped in to negotiate a temporary settlement. The final legislation has a substantial pay rise (24%) and improved health care, but it doesn't explicitly guarantee the minimum number of paid sick days that the union was negotiating for. Biden mentioned and criticized this fact like, ten times in his remarks on signing the bill, as well as his commitment to continue negotiations for it on the country-wide level. This was also the one and only question he answered after signing it:

Why did he say that? Because 49 Democrats + 3 Republicans voted for the paid sick leave provision to be included in the final bill, and 42 Republicans + Manchin (because of fucking course it was Manchin) voted against it. You may remember that it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster, and only 41 to maintain it, so the provision failed. This has led, as usual, to a torrent of disingenuous progressive bullshit blaming Biden personally for the provision being excluded, rather than the Republicans who voted against it! (MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.) The Online Leftists have also tried to paint Joe F'n Biden, whose love of trains is like, a central part of his personality (riding Amtrak every day for thirty years, etc), and is also the most pro-union president in recent history, as a corporate scab for negotiating a settlement, however flawed, instead of just letting the strike go ahead. Because their idea of fixing everything is breaking it in the name of Ideology, etc etc.

Anyway, again, Biden pointed out like ten times that he was unhappy with Republicans stripping the paid sick leave from the bill and promised to keep working to accomplish it some other way. Blah blah THIS IS ALL BIDEN'S FAULT. As per fucking usual.

Sigh.

[justhere4thevibez]

Stranger things rarepair idea: Karen Wheeler x Bob Newby.

Hear me out.

Bob Newby is the opposite of Ted Wheeler. Endlessly kind. Endlessly enthusiastic. Endlessly invested in the people he cares about. Karen just wants somebody to pay attention to her (her weird seeking out of Billy is testament enough to that), and Bob Newby would. He's simply dying to have someone upon whom to lavish affection, and Karen would revel it, unlike Joyce who seemed to brush him off and be overwhelmed by how much he cared.

Plus, he'd be delighted to be dad to the Wheeler kids. Holly would love him immediately, of course. Mike would be kind of an ass to him, but Bob wouldn't take it personally and would wear him down eventually. Plus, he'd actually listen to Mike, and not many grownups do. Nancy would think he was kind of a weird, harmless idiot, but he'd totally disarm her with his kindness and earnestness, and his surprising intelligence re: electrical equipment would impress her. He'd also be super supportive of her desire for a career, and eventually she might even go to him for advice on boys (and he'd tell her, very gently, that maybe she needs to work on being happy with herself first).

You know those couples where the wife is a super model and the husband is just Some Guy™️? That's what they'd look like. All of her country club friends would wonder, why on earth would she pick him? But then they'd see the two of them out on a date (how many of their husbands still took them on dates?) laughing and being silly and in love without a hint of self consciousness, and they'd realize. Bob Newby isn't just some guy. He's the kind of guy you'd actually want to spend the rest of your life with.

And, maybe, just maybe, they'd be a little jealous.

[pluvionpc]

anidala as…

Homecoming by Hans Adolf Bühler, 1939

(disclaimer: not meant to reference or support original artist’s views or intent)

“‘No.’ He laid a gentle finger on her lips, smiling down at her. ‘No buts. No worries. You worry too much as is.’

‘I have to,’ she said, smiling through the tears in her eyes. ‘Because you never worry at all.’”

— Matthew Stover, Revenge of the Sith Novelization

[ original + rambles under the cut ]

sometimes i think about the realness of anidala’s stories. boys much too young sent off to war; their lovers taking on the emotional burden of being their relief. i think about how padmé, as a senator, would have her own struggles and worries to face alongside stressing that her teenage husband wasn’t going to return from the frontlines. i wonder if she was able to talk about it when they met up, the same way we see her constantly listening to his ongoing turmoil— especially during the latter half of the war. or, maybe, they just sat together. two people charging head-first into different types of battles because they felt they had no other options. i have to do this.

[zillychu]

Consider for a moment: A slow-burn identity reveal “no one knows” AU with an emphasis on ghosts being taken seriously as an actual, world-changing threat.

Ghosts are treated as an exceedingly dangerous, but unavoidable force of nature. They can come and go without warning, through naturally occurring spontaneous portals. They're territorial, driven only by obsession and hunger for the living. Particularly powerful ghosts are on par with natural disasters.

Life goes on because there's simply no other option. All major buildings have varying levels of ghost shields, some stronger than others. Just about everyone has some form of personal shield, weapon, or general deterrent. For the most part, humanity takes this apocalypse in stride, barely keeping it all together because there's just enough safety to keep them all sane.

Which is why the rumors of Phantom being able to fully mimic a human body incites panic in Amity.

Phantom was already a nightmare as it was–one of the most powerful and intelligent ghosts on record. His territorial fights with other ghosts for haunting (hunting) grounds in Amity have made global news several times already. Powerful ghosts could appear more human–but to think he was transforming down to a cellular level? Hiding among them? Bypassing ghost shields and alarms? Picking them off one by one?

The focus is mostly with Lancer's class, and how the school deals with this new threat on top of everything else. Everyone is a suspect, no one is safe, and Danny Fenton in particular gets slowly more and more exhausted, apathetic, and… unnerving.

The stress, the lack of sleep, the fighting, no one to turn to, not even his best friends or family–it takes a toll on him. Starving himself doesn't help, but he refuses to do more than take small bites from the ambient life energy and emotion of the living around him. Nothing that won't actually do lasting harm. He begins to slip up more and more, which Sam and Tucker begin to notice but haven't quite connected the dots yet.

But, well. What else can Danny do when Pariah Dark comes knocking on Amity’s doorstep, and his whole class is in the line of fire?

[gazbusters]

husband!gaz with his beloved pregnant!wife <3 – lowercase intentional

– ♡ –

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ he is absolutely ecstatic when you announce to him that you're pregnant, picking you up and spinning you around

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ now he's been pampering you before, but now? princess treatment to the MAX.

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ doesn't really care about a gender reveal, he loves you guys' kid no matter the gender they turn out to be, but you insist on at least baking a few muffins or a small cake with colored filling!

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ once you do do a reveal it was just you two during a cute little picnic! he takes a bite of whatever baked goods you made and the filling is… green? of course he comforts you when you start crying :(

"oh hun, I'm so happy we're having a little Shrek baby, don't cry…"

– ♡ –

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ once you're in your third trimester you suggest doing that trend where you strap a big watermelon to his stomach, giving him a taste of what you feel day by day … he gave up after three hours

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ safe to say that he won't let you do a single thing anymore until it's time for labor – househusband mode activated

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹ trash? taken out. dishes? done. hungry? takeout. want something home-cooked? just say the word. laundry? done. you crave chips/chocolate/ice cream but you just ran out?

"go rest on the couch, luv. here's the remote, I'll be back in 10."

[soysaucetime]

kh3 countdown from back in the day

[boingopilled69]

that awkward moment when your muse and center of your universe gives you the stigmata for expressing doubt in his portal plans!!! 🙄🙄

[last-flight-of-fancy]

Started thinking about Riku-Kairi parallels and symbolism wrt the ending of kh2 so please hold while i get needlessly verbose about it-

specifically it started with this gif

and ofc adhd is as adhd does and started going down the rabbit hole of connecting the dots.

The act of reaching out a hand/hand holding is a recurring thing in kh, the vast majority of which is chock full of meaning and symbolism, and this is no exception. This is the culmination of The Hero's Journey part of Sora's tale, the return home, and the heartfelt reunion between long-seperated friends. fun fact the heroine's journey follows the hero's journey for the first third or so before continuing on. kinda like how kh continued on long after things seemed to be 'resolved'. weekly plug to look up Howler's Heroine's Journey essays if you haven't yet

The angle from which I am viewing this scene right now is in regards to ofc Riku, and his own iconic pose that we see the first time in the intro to kh1 (and many, many times since)

And this is where my riku-kairi-are-inverted-parallels-to-each-other brain starts barking like a dog because oughghghghggh same pose opposite side completely different body language- AHG.

And this matches their character arcs (as well as their respective combined arcs with sora) to a T as well. Riku's pose is the first we see, way back in kh1, and his hand is as much a taunt as it is an offer. Very befitting his relationship to sora in that game, which was coloured by a forged rivalry and intense jealousy (to quote the ultimania; Complicated Feelings) of/for sora.

(it is also notable that to date this gesture has yet to be resolved. the closest they've gotten is when sora grasped Riku's hand in kh2 on finding him- albeit in Ansem's visage.

Symbolically this is Sora attempting to accept the gesture, but this time it is Riku who fails to meet him halfway, too deep in guilt and regret to feel worthy of it. his hand is turned downwards, limp and unresisting.

And again in DDD when Riku grabs sora's hand/wrist in an attempt to wake him from his nightmares, but this time sora isn't capable of reciprocating. like two ships passing in the night, always reaching but never quite meeting)

(this one isn't quite as strong in the visual symbolism specific to the Riku Pose, but i did think it bore mentioning)

to return to the first gif however, for Kairi her posture is much less stiff, leaning forward with palpable releif at Sora's return. Honestly the fact that she holds out her left hand (which as far as i know is not her dominant hand) marks this as a very deliberate choice to parallel her as opposite to riku. and much like the rest of kh2's ending, it FEELS like a culmination, a completion of their arcs.... and most certainly isnt.

Which i mean to say, it's a mid-point. And the reason I say this is because of one little thing.

The seashell charm.

There's a sort of irony here in that the charm that was meant to reunite them in this moment is also symbolically like a wedge between them. A heartfelt and meaningful gesture, don't get me wrong! i love this scene and the genuine emotions within, but i do love chewing on the way this gains a slightly different meaning in the greater context of later story beats; specifically that of kh3.

With how pointed and direct the parallel is between kairi and riku in these scenes, it did make me pause for a moment thinking about kh3. i know we've all seen a thousand and one analysis' of the paopu scene at this point, but forgive me as i must do so again under this specific lens.

'how does the paopu scene relate to the hand extended gesture at all?' i hear you ask, and on the visual surface not much. it has more to do with sora and kairi's relationship arc through the games and, of course, the lingering loose thread that was the cave drawing.

The paopu scene is a touching recreation of that cave drawing, one enacted by a pair of kids who didn't know if they would live to see another sunset. It's also probably the most symbollically dense thing in all of kh and that is saying something so I'm going to try and keep my observations limited to just what is relevant to this post- and that would be the way that the paopu scene is a direct continuation of Kairi's 'you're home' gesture in kh2.

shooting stars are also a common recurring symbol in kh, and that's the symbol that ties these two scene's together. if kh1 is two disparate stars each trying to reach the other (the cave drawing, the seashell charm, the way their hands are seperated at the end of kh1), and the end of kh2 is that of the stars finally meeting (the single seashell star charm pressed between their palms), then the paopu scene is that of the stars passing each other by and beginning their own journey's anew (two stars held by crossed arms, each now holding a small piece of the other (bitten fruit) to show that their meeting may have been brief but it was meaningful)

it is in this way that kh3 quietly and tenderly closes out sora and kairi's combined arc, as two unlikely friends who then drift apart again, shining brightly for the shared experiance, Remind mostly serves to support that finality, tying up the last couple loose ends between them, and leaving the two far more comfortable with each other than they ever were while that arc was still ongoing (which i read as them no longer being uncertain as to what their relationship is; that of friends, and not whatever so many others around them had pushed and assumed)

(seriously look at how much more comfortable they are with each other the second the pressure to be something they're not is off. the awkwardness is completely gone i love it)

All of this is ofc still in parallel to Riku, who boasts no such star imagery (instead he has the iconic Heart of KH itself), and in fact while he symbollically continues to reach out to sora, physically he has completely refrained from doing so at all- in fact most examples of the Gesture in kh are deliberately invoked by other characters in order to bring riku to mind in some way (and often more for the players benifit than sora's)

axel in CoM,

(i have given up on tumblr gif search)

YMX in DDD,

which then immidiately cuts to riku in kh1 just to make it as blatant as possible that yes the reference is intentional (i guess CoM was too subtle somehow so they had to make sure this time)

and even Riku himself to Namine at the end of kh3, representing Repliku's final wishes in a funny sort of symbolism oroboros.)

and it's not a coincidence that the completion of that connection provides definitive closure to the arcs in question; that of namine to repliku, but also a little bit to riku himself. namine still has a role to play, but that role (i think) is more or less exclusive to her relationship with sora. namine and riku's relationship arc, background as it is, is complete, and now both are connected primarily through their incomplete arcs with sora.

(which makes the way that sora and kairi's example in kh2 is a complete outlier really interesting tbh. smth smth thinking your relationship is one thing and if it was that thing then yes that would have been the end, but it wasn't that thing and thus it wasn't the end smth smth comphet metaphor smth)

which brings us back to how riku himself hasn't really reached out to sora directly since kh1, the act that set off both of their journey's. The reasons for that are many- guilt, fear, a certainty that sora will not reach back and that he doesn't deserve it anyway- but despite that the Gesture is still subtly affirmed as being Riku's over and over again, never quite letting the audience forget it... because eventually this bit of symbolism so consistently portrayed throughout the series will reach its own conclusion, starting how it began with one deuteragonist reaching out to the other, and this time the other reaching back to complete the gesture.

[rehide]

the thing about hide is that he never once expressed visible hurt abt kaneki not telling him he's a ghoul. it was never a topic of discussion between them, not even in re when it's a much safer conversation to have. he never (at least openly) feels betrayed about it, and still uses his every action to get closer to kaneki and the ghoul world despite how cut off he's been from kaneki's life. and i'm sure hide was smart enough to realize that kaneki's avoidance was always about protecting him, but it's hard to imagine that he wasn't at least a little hurt at some point that kaneki wouldn't tell him. and then a couple hundred chapters later kaneki's stumbling over his words in a sewer and hide's telling him how he's always known, while offering up his own life for his.

[applestruda]

Fallen star

[cosmicvaca]

It's just them I can't stop thinking about them please send help--

[qqueenofhades]

Re: Communism and organised religion. I actually read a Tumblr post a while ago that argues that Jesus (at least as depicted in the four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) was actually a pretty not-great person whose raid on the Temple legitimately hurt a lot of poor and working class Jewish people and there’s apparently some evidence that Marx wasn’t particularly enlightened about certain things as well.

OMG YOU GUYS, HAVE YOU HEARD THAT JESUS WAS PROBLEMATIC?!?! WE SHOULD CANCEL HIM?!?!

(also, if they think that's what was making life hard for poor first-century CE Jews, just wait until they hear about the Roman Empire. But then, that can't really be anyone's fault since America wasn't invented yet, and/or it IS America's fault for psychically projecting imperialist brainwaves into the past and making sure it was all due to provocation by NATO.)

[break-the-glass-block]

Philza is basically Odysseus cause like:

misses his wife

wants to go home

but this god has a petty vendetta against him

thankfully he is friends with this goddess

(said goddess is rivals with the god)

just a man

amazing archer

loves his wife

will do anything for his family

leads a crew of fools who like to piss off god

they fought a cyclops who hasnt forgotten them

known for his endurance

he just wants to go home

has either the worst or the best luck

likes clever cheaty ways but will just brute force

hospitable except for this large group of mfs

stuck on an island and cant leave

confused by the plot

he just wants to go home, man.

[mequetrefis]

cowboy activities 🤠

[marcusagrippa]

any roman senator born after 105bc can’t follow the mos maiorum... all they know is dictator, march on they rome, twerk, be bisexual, conquer gaul & lie

[ladyofthecreeddraws]

SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN SOME FOREHEAD KISSES IMMEDIATELY!!!